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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28435911">Second Nature</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LimeyJellyBean/pseuds/LimeyJellyBean'>LimeyJellyBean</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:35:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28435911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LimeyJellyBean/pseuds/LimeyJellyBean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first thing they see in the morning is each other</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Second Nature</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They’ve done this dance so often now that the steps are beginning to feel like second nature to Dean, following their intricate pattern with such precision that it now borders on instinct. The warm feeling it gives him fills his chest until he feels like he could burst, the pure <i>joy</i> he feels to see the soft look Castiel gives him back enough to set every morning off perfectly - even before any coffee can clear away any last cobwebs that stubbornly cling on to consciousness.</p>
<p>Dean always wakes before Castiel, letting himself simply take in the sight of the former angel bedside him, watching over him in a way reminiscent of the way Castiel used to watch over Dean as he slept before he became human. He’s let himself have these moments, stealing them away and hoarding them with the underlying fear it could be ripped away from him at any second; that one morning he’ll wake up in another shitty motel room with no Castiel by his side and the gnawing empty feeling he’d finally got rid of front and centre in his chest. He’s lucky enough that he’d never been caught with that look on his face, always managing to quell it just enough as Castiel stirred that it could easily be replaced with adoration at how soft he looked while he slept. Becoming human had done nothing to tame the strands on his head; still bordering on dishevelled no matter how hard they both tried to get them to behave. Yet if anyone was to ask, Dean would deny until his dying day that he didn’t really try very hard - something about being the source of dishevelment for a (formal) angel of the Lord did things to him that were whispered in to Castiel’s skin when there was no one else around, for only him to hear.</p>
<p>As for Castiel - waking every morning to see the carefully schooled adoration on Dean’s face is an equally pleasant thing to wake up to. He knows that Dean has fears that one day he’ll wake up alone, that he’s secretly terrified it’s all a dream and the rug will get pulled out from him when he leasts expects it. Castiel has his own fears, almost a mirror to Dean’s; that the day will come when only darkness will greet him as he wakes, that the Dean he wakes up to is a twisted caricature of the real thing as the Shadow belittles and mocks him for daring to love the Righteous Man. It’s what plagues his dreams on the handful of nights he wakes in a cold sweat, grasping for the real thing to ground him and remind him that he’s no longer in that God awful place, that he’ll never have to go back there again. It’s those nights that promises are whispered into skin, promises that would kill either of them to break, seeking the comfort in each other that they finally allowed themselves to have.</p>
<p>The steps to this dance may have been difficult at first, but Castiel is glad at just how easy they’re becoming to master.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you want to scream at me (or talk, that's nice too) I'm on Tumblr under LimeyJellyBean too :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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